Automatic pinion-filling machine.



Nor/82,644. PATBNTED FEB. 14, 1905.

, I 0. J. CLEVELAND.

AUTOMATIC PINION FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20. 1904;

3 SHI BETSBHEBT 1.

No. 782,644. PATENTED FEB. 14, 1905.

' c. J.,GLEVELAND.

AUTOMATIC PINION FILLING MACHINE. APPLIUATION FILED JUNE 20.1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 782,644. I PATENTED FEB. '14, 1905.

' I 0. J. CLEVELAND.

- AUTOMATIC PINION FILLING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 20. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES Patented February 14, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. CLEVELAND, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO I THEWATERBURY CLOCK 00., OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A COR- PORATION.

AUTOMATIC PlNlON-FILLING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,644, dated February14, 1905.

Application filed June 20,1904- Serial No. 213,276.

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. CLEVELAND,

of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven reference marked thereon, to bea full, clear, 7

and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitutepart of this specification, and represent, in

Figure l, a broken view in front elevation of a machine constructed inaccordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a broken plan view thereof; Fig.3, a broken side view thereof; Fig. 4, a detail view in vertical sectionon the line a b of Fig. 3, showing the clamp used in feeding the longwires from which the pinionleaves are cut; Fig. 5, a broken view invertical section on the line 0 (Z of Fig. 1, showing the movable die inits depressed position and the wires fed into it and gaged and justready to be cut off by its elevation; Fig. 6, a broken view inhorizontal section on the line a f of Fig. 1 with the parts in the samepositions; Fig. 7, a similar but less comprehensive viewshowing themovable die lifted into its elevated position and the ejector-pins a'soperated to push the pinion-leaves from the said die into the collets ofa pinion applied thereto; Fig. 8, a detached face view of the fixed die;Fig. 9, a detached edge view thereof; Fig. 10, a detached face view ofthemovable die; Fig. 11, a detached edge view thereof; Fig. 12, adetached face view of the'bushing; Fig. 13, a detached edge viewthereof; Fig. 14, a

detached view of an eight-leaf lantern-pinion.

of the type which my machine is designed to fill.

My invention relates to an improvement in automatic machines for fillingthe collets of lantern-pinions with the short wireswhich form theirleaves, the object being to produce a simple and compact machinein whichthis work may be done not only far more rapidly than it can be done byhand, but also more accurately, and which may by interchanging some ofits parts be adapted to fill lanternpinions of different sizes.

With these ends in view my invention consists in an automatic machinefor filling lantern-pinions having certain details of construction andcombinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed outin the claims.

For clearness and convenience of description 1 proposeto describe, asfar as practicable, the mechanical features of my machine in thesequence or order of their operation in filling a pinion. The machinechosen for illustration is equipped to fill relatively large pinionshaving eight leaves; but it will of course be understood that the sizeof the pinions and the number of their leaves is immaterial.

My improved machine may be made to fill pinions of one particularsize,or it may have its parts made interchangeable as far as required toadapt it to beconverted for filling pinions of different sizes. It willalso be understood that the wire leaves of the pinions are cut from longlengths 2 of previously-straightened wire. For use in the machine hereinshown eight of these long wires 2 are gathered into a bunch, and inorder that they may be conveniently handled collectively withoutlongitudinal displacement relatively they are preferably clamped betweenthe jaws 3 4 of a sliding clamp 5, having a rectangular opening 6,adapting it to be mounted so as to slide back and forth upon ahorizontally-arranged rectangular bar 7, fixed in the frame 8 of themachine. The upper jaw 3 is controlled in the usual manner by athumb-screw 9. The operator by taking hold of the bunch of wires or bytaking hold of the clamp shoves them step by step into the machine andfrom time to time shifts the clamp by moving it outward on the wires andclamping it in a new position thereon, this being done as required bythe shortening of the inner ends of the wires, by which is meant thoseportions of the wires between the clamp and the machine, due to cuttingthem ofi. The inner ends of the eight wires are fed into a correspondingnumber of holes 10, extending through ahorizontally-arranged movablecylindrical bushing 1 1, located in a circular opening 12in themachine-frame 8. These holes 10 are directly below the center of thebushing and arranged in circular form at equal distances from eachother, their arrangement corresponding to the positions of the leaves inthe pinionto be filled.

The eight wires 2 being distributed, so to speak, in the eight holes 10,as just described, are fed through the bushing 11 into eight alinedcorrespondingly arranged cuttingofi holes 13, extending transverselythrough the lower portion of a removable disk-shaped fixed die 14 in arecess 15 formed in the outer face of the machine frame 8 and madeconcentric with the bushing-opening 12, but larger than the same, Fromthe fixed die 14 the wires pass into eight correspondingly arranged andalined cutting-off holes 16,-extending transversely through adisk-shapedmovable die 17, having upon its outer face a hub 18 and mounted in theforward end of a rockingleverlike carrier 19,turning upon astud 20,mounted in the machine-frame 8, the inner end of the said carrier beingformed with a recess 21 for the reception of a knuckle 22, formed uponthe short end 23 of a foot-lever 24, hung upon a heavy stud 25 in themachine-frame 8. Regulating-screws 26 and 27, mounted in themachine-frame, are arranged to be engaged by the upper and lower edgesof the carrier 19 to regulate the throw of the same, and hence themovement of the die 17 up and down, so that when the same is at thelimit of its depressed or pinion-wire-receiving position its cuttingofiholes 16 will exactly register with the cutting-off holes 13 of thefixed die 14 and so that when it is at the limit of its elevated orpinion-leaf-delivering position its holes 16 will exactly register withthe ejector-pin-guiding holes 28 of a group of eight holes extendingtransversely through the fixed die and located above the center thereofin lines parallel with the holes 13 thereof.

As the long wires 2 are being shoved by hand through the bushing 10,through the fixed die 14, and through the movable die 17 they arebrought to a stop by means of an upright gage 29, located in line withthe outting-off holes 13 of the fixed die 14 and standing close to theouter face of the hub 18 of the movable die 17 when the same is in itsdepressed or pinion-wire-receiving position, this gage being located atthe end ofa horizontal foot 30, enteringa hole 31 in the machineframe 8and engaged by a set-screw 32, whereby the gage is held in any desiredposition of adjustment. The said gage will be adjusted or set so thatthe space between it and the outer face of the fixed die 14 will be justsufiicient to permit the movable die 17 to be moved in between them soas to register its cutting-off holes 16 with the cutting-off holes 13 ofthe fixed die 14. The long wires 2 are pushed through the bushing andthe cutting-0H holes of the two dies until the outer endof each wire hasbeen impinged against the inner face of the gage, whereby uniformity inthe length of the pinion-leaves 2 cut from the wires is secured.

The wires having been fed and gag-ed as described, the foot-lever 24 isoperated for rocking the carrier 19 and lifting the movable die 17 intoits elevated or pinion-leaf-delivering position. At the verybeginning ofthis movement of the said movable die the pinion-leaves 2 are producedby a shearing action of the movable die over the face of the fixed die.

These eight pinion-leaves 2 are now lifted with the movable die andbrought into registration with the eight holes 28 of the upper group ofejector-pin-guiding holes in the fixed die. An unfilled pinionconsisting of an arbor 33 and two collets 34 and 35 now has one end ofits arbor inserted into a bearing-hole 36, extending transverselythrough the movable die 17 and located in the center of its group ofcutting-off holes 16. The fixed die 14 is formed with a correspondingbearinghole 37, located in the center of its group ofejector-pin-guiding holes 28 for the reception of the extreme end of thearbor in case it happens to be long. It will be understood, of course,that each of the collets 34 and 35 have had drilled in them eight holescorresponding in size and arrangement to the several groups of holesalready referred to, the holes 35 in the collet 35 being open holes inthe sense of extending through the collet and the holes 34 in the collet34 being closed holes or pockets in the sense that they do not extendthrough to the outer face thereof. In applying the unfilled pinion tothe machine that end of its arbor 33 will always be inserted into thehole 36 of the movable die which will bring the collet having the openholes 35 into immediate proximity to the outer ends of the holes 16 inthe movable die. The leaves 2 are now ejected from the holes 16 in themovable die 17 and introduced into the said collets 34 and 35 by meansof a group of eight ejector-pins 38, having a circular arrangementcorresponding to the arrangement of the several groups of holes andmounted at their inner ends in an ejector-head 39. These ejectorpins 38play back and forth in the ejector-pinguiding holes 28 of the uppergroup of holes in the fixed die 14 and through the holes 40 of acorresponding group of holes formed in the bushing 11 at a pointcentrally above the lower group of holes 10 therein. The said head 39has its outer end slotted for the reception of a finger-lever 41, towhich it is attached by a pivot 42, the said finger-lever beingfurnished at its outer end with a fingerpiece 43 and having its innerend hung by a pivot 44 in a post 45. At its extreme inner, end thefinger-lev er .is furnished with an eye 46, receiving an adjusting-screw47, by means of which the ejecting throw of the pins 38 is regulated. Aspring 48, interposed between the finger-lever 41 and the machine-frame8, operates to retract the ejector-pins 38 into .their retired positionsafter they have been used to transfer a set of pinion-leaves from themovable die to an unfilled pinion.

The operation of my improved machine is simple and extremely rapid, thelong wires being fed by one hand to the gage, after which the foot isoperated to cut them off and lift the movable die to the limit of itsupward movement. An unfilled pinion is then applied by the other hand tothe said movable die, after, which the other hand is used to operate thefinger-lever for the ejection of the pinionleaves into the unfilledblank, which is then removed for the closing of the outer ends of theholes 35 in its collet 35 by swaging or otherwise.

It will be apparent that by interchanging the fixed and movable dies,the bushing, and the ejector-pins the machine may be converted forfilling pinion-blanks of any size and number of leaves. It is alsoapparent that in carrying out my invention some changes from theconstruction herein shown and described may be made. I would thereforehave it understood that I do not limit myself thereto, but hold myselfat liberty to make such departures therefrom as fairly fall within thespirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions,

the combination with a fixed die having a circular group of cutting-offholes, of a movable die having a corresponding group of cuttingoffholes, a gage located in line with the cutting-oil" holes of the fixeddie, means for ejecting the pinion-leaves from the movable die, andmeans for moving the movable die into its pinion-wire-receiving positionin which its cutting-oft holes are alinedwith the cuttingoff holes inthe fixed die and into its pinionleaf-delivering position in which itscuttingofi' holes are-alined with the said pinion-leafejecting meanswhich push the pinion-leaves from it into the drilled collets of anunfilled pinion.

2. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination with afixed die having an upper and a lower circular group of transverseholes, of a movable die having a corresponding group of holes, means formoving the movable die so as to register its group of holes alternatelywith the holes of the two groups of the fixed die, and means operatingthrough the upper group of holes in the fixed die for ejecting a set ofpinion-leaves in the movable die from the same into the an unfilledpinion.

3. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination with afixed die having an upper and a lower circular group of holes, of

drilled collets of a'movable die having a corresponding group .of holes,means for-moving the movable die the combination with a fixed die havingan upper and a lower circular group of holes, of a movable die having acorresponding circular group of holes, means for moving the movable diefor alternately registering its group of holes with the two groups ofholes in the fixed die, a bushing having two circular groups of holeswhich are registered with the two groups of holes in the fixed die,ejector-pins located in the upper group of holes in the bushing andplaying through the holes of the upper group in the fixed die, and meansfor operating the said ejector-pins, whereby the pinionleaves cut off bythe movable die are pushed into the drilled collets of an unfilledpinion, the long wires from which the leaves are out being fed throughthe holes of the lower group in the bushing and through the holes of thelower group in the fixed die.

5. In a machine for filling lantern'pinions, the combination with afixed die having a circular group of cutting-off holes, of a movable diehaving a corresponding group of cuttingoff holes, a gage located in linewith the cutting-off holes of the said fixed die, ejector-pins forentering the said cutting-off holes of the movable die, and means formoving the movable die into its pinion-wire-receiving position betweenthe fixed die and the gage at which time its cutting-off holes arealined with the cutting-off holes of the fixed die, and for moving itinto its pinion-leaf-delivering position in which its cutting-off holesare alined with the said ejector-pins which push the pinion-leaves fromits said holes and enter them into the drilled collets of an unfilledpinion.

6. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination withafixeddie having an upper and a lower circular group of holes, of a movabledie having a corresponding group of holes and a central bearing-hole forthe reception of one end of the arbor of a pinion, means for raising andlowering the movable die for alternately registering its holes with theholes of the two groups of holes in the fixed die, and means operatingthrough the upper group of holes in the fixed die for ejecting thepinionleaves out ofi by the movable die from-the holes thereof into thecollets of an unfilled pinion.

7. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination with afixed die having two circular groups of'holes, of a movable die having acircular group of holes, means for moving the movable die to alternatelyregister its holes with those of the two groups of holes in the fixeddie, ejector-pins playing through the upper group of holes in the fixeddie, a head carrying the said pins, and a lever connected with the saidhead for the operation thereof.

8. In a pinion-filling machine, the combina tion with a fixed die havingan upper'and a lower circular group of holes, and a bearinghole in thecenter of its upper group of holes, of a movable die having acorresponding group of holes and a central bearing-hole, a rockingcarrier in which the movable die is mounted, means for rocking the saidcarrier for moving the movable die over the face of the fixed die foralternately registering its group of holes with the two groups of holesthereof, a gage located adjacent to the outer face of the movable die,and ejector-pins playing through the upper group of holes in the fixeddie and adapted to enter the holes in the movable die for ejecting thepinion-leaves therein into an unfilled pinion supported thereby.

9. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination with afixed die having a circular group of cutting-off holes, of a movablediehaving acorresponding group of cutting-0E holes, a gage located inline with the cutting-off holes of the movable die, ejector-pins forpushing the pinion-leaves from the movable die into the drilled colletsof an unfilled pinion, means for guiding the said ejector-pins, and

means for moving the movable die into its pinion-wire-receiving positionin which its outting-off holes are alined with the cutting-off holesofthe said fixed die and into its pinionleaf-delivering position inwhich its cuttingoif holes are alined with the said ejector-pins whichpush the pinion-leaves carried by it into the drilled collets of anunfilled pinion.

10. In a machine for filling lantern-pinions, the combination with afixed die having a group of cutting-off holes, of a movable die having acorresponding group of cutting-off holes, means for moving the movabledie into its pinion-wire-receiving position in which its outting-01fholes register with the cutting-off holes of the fixed die, and into itspinion-leaf-delivering position in which its cutting ofi holes arecarried beyond the range of the cuttingoif holes of the fixed die,ejector-pins operating, when the movable die is in itspinion-leafdelivering position, to eject the pinion-leaves therefrom,and a series of ejector-pin-guiding holes in which the said pins playback and forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES J. CLEVELAND.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. WATSON,

SAMUEL BUTCHER.

